My happy place....

Getting a late start to posting today.  It's been a doozy of a day!

I've been thinking about our trip to Key West.  That is my happy place these days!  Wish we could go back!  It's been necessary to think about my happy place lately!

Yesterday was day 2 on the reset.

Breakfast was yummy - oatmeal with blueberries and yogurt.  I had the So Delicious coconut milk yogurt since I don't do the dairy thing.  It was good! I forgot to take a photo, but it wasn't too exciting!  You get the idea!

Lunch was another Hugh Jass salad.  This time in the Greek fashion with homemade Greek dressing!  Tasty!  I took my salad to the park and met up with a friend.  It was the perfect weather here and we enjoyed ourselves.  Then we went to get a foot massage.  Talk about heavenly!

When we got home, I was starving so I had veggies and hummus.  Again, no photo.  I just wasn't thinking about pictures for some reason.

I went for a nice brisk walk in the morning and again in the evening.  That is just about all the workout we get to do on the detox.  Stretching or light yoga is also allowed.

Dinner was GOOD!  That is one thing about this detox.  The food is plentiful and delicious!  Bean and rice taco with guacamole and salsa and big batch of steamed kale!

I did remember to take a pic of this one!

okay, so it's sideways....  it's been a crazy day and I'm leaving it ;)

I had a few glimpses of a headache yesterday off and on, but slept decently and woke up fine this morning!

I think tonight a nice bath and a good book is gonna be needed!  It's been stressful and I know that isn't a good thing on the program!

Again, if you want more info on the cleanse/detox, just let me know.  I"m more than happy to get it to you!  So far, I'm impressed!

Giving it a go!

Well, I had a good day yesterday.  It was Day 1 of the Ultimate Reset.  This is a 3 week, 21 day cleanse/detox.  However, this one is a bit different than others.  You get to eat, a lot of GOOD food!  There are some supplements that I am taking and one thing different is that I am drinking a LOT more water - distilled with added mineralize. (Himalayan Salt).

There is a lot of cooking/prep included in this program, so be sure to be aware of that if you decide to give it a try.

If you want more info on the Ultimate Reset, get in touch with me at feelingfitwithdana@gmail.com!!  I'm happy to get you more info and chat and see if this is a good fit for you!

My morning started off with taking my morning supplements (optimize, water with mineralize and oxygenize).  I felt a tiny bit dizzy after taking these, but it passed quickly.

After waiting the allotted 30 minutes I had my breakfast!  YUM!

The supplement routine is the same for each meal.  Take them and then wait 30 minutes before eating.

Lunch was a Hugh Jass salad!

I LOVED the homemade creamy garlic dressing!  So tasty.

I took my alkalinize in the afternoon.  Talk about a pick-me-up!  A lot of people have a problem with the taste.  It is very similar to the barley green or wheat grass shots I have done before, so yes, it does taste like grass!

I did take a short nap this afternoon too.  I needed it, I have been so tired lately, but this cleanse/detox is probably going to take some getting used to as well.  And the goal is to allow our bodies to rest and rejuvenate.  

Dinner was another good meal, however, two things changed it up a bit.  First of all, I didn't read far enough in advance to see that I was supposed to let the fish marinate for 1 hour, OOPS!  So, I just rolled with it.  The other thing is that Brian HATES salmon.  So, we went with Mahi, Mahi.  It was delicious and the asparagus and potatoes were good too!

After dinner, I went for a walk (Brian had poker night....) and then came back to relax a bit.  Dry skin brushing and a hot baking soda bath and then the SMASH finale!  

All in all a good day.  Madelyn came by in the morning for a quick visit while Meredith took her finals.  We had a good time playing.  

Keeping your crown on is a hard job!

I totally forgot to post a photo of my beautiful flowers from my Jake for Mother's Day!

So pretty!  Have a wonderful day, I'm off to see what kind of fun adventures I can come up with today!

A good day!

I had a great day yesterday!  We were at the lake, Brian and I got up and walked the hills and then went for a canoe ride.  One thing I discovered, Brian and I work pretty good together and different kinds of workouts really make your body sore!  I love being able to do different fun things, especially when I get to workout with Brian!

Nick and Lauren had stayed the night with us at the lake, but Chase and Madelyn and Jake ( and his buddy Will) came down and we had a big lunch with Bill, Judy ( we got to bring her to the house for Mother's Day), Lisa, Todd and Marcus and Julie!  It was a big group, but we loved it.  We had kebobs, a huge fruit salad, corn on the cob and of course we couldn't forget dessert.  We had a great time!

 Me and my boys!

 All my kids, except Meredith, who had to study for finals....

the whole gang!

I called my Momma, but didn't get to see her.  That was the only big drawback to my day!

 We had a good day and had to head home, back to get ready for the upcoming week!

I am starting Beachbody's Ultimate Reset today.  So far, it is going well, although chewing raw veggies and salad greens is a bit difficult for me with my mouthpiece. I am really looking forward to seeing the results from 3 weeks of super clean eating and the wonderful supplements!  I've taken my measurements, weight and before photo, got my blood work done and I am ready!

I'm going to be blogging about it as I go through it, so you can follow along and if it is something you are interested in learning more about - just get in touch with me.  I am happy to get you all the info on it!

Then I don't feel so bad!

It's been a while since I have posted a few of my favorite things......  I know you are singing the song, I am, every time ;)

I usually drink lime water.  I mix lime juice and stevia in my water and it is tasty and easy to do, but I have a friend that shared the Lime Stevita with me and this is super easy for on - the - go lime water drinking!!!  You can get them at your local health food store or amazon.com carries it.  It also comes in strawberry, grape, orange and other flavors.  It comes in a small jar or in single serving packets.  It is Nick approved ( let me tell you, this is HUGE!)  Nick usually drinks soda (Coke) and doesn't really like water.  I've been after him for a LONG time to change this nasty habit.  He got a kidney infection a few weeks ago and couldn't drink his beloved, so I had him try this in his water.  Now, he asks for it and carries the packets with him and I am proud to report, has cut back on his soda intake!  This makes Momma proud!!

Another cool thing I've found lately is a new mascara.  Now, I have been pretty partial to my L'Oreal Double Extend and I thought it would be hard to beat, but I have been using They're Real by Benefit.  I really like the way my lashes are looking.  Extra long and it even curls them a bit.  My only drawback is it is hard to get off.  I have had to get some eye-makeup remover to get it off. I got mine at the new Ulta store at the mall.  Lovin' it!  Oh, and they had it in a sample size, so you can try it out before you commit!

I got a couple of new cookbooks -

I LOVE my kindle, but do NOT love cookbooks on it.  So, I buy the actual book!  Both have some amazing recipes.  I can't wait to see what all is Brian approved!!

Brian got me the Margaritaville frozen drink maker a few weeks ago and we have been using it and loving it. I brought it to the lake last weekend and we had sno-cones and of course a frozen adult beverage.  It is easy to use and I LOVE the shaved ice.  You just put the drink portion in the container, the ice in the top and shave and mix!  This one is a little pricey, but I think it is worth it ( I wasn't sure at first LOL!!)  I even have been drinking frozen lime waters.  Now you know I have some type of mental problem HA!  We got ours at Sam's, but I have seen them all over the place.

Here's a quick frozen drink recipe - you can add an adult type beverage to it if you want....

4 cups watermelon
1 cup apple juice
5-10 drops of nu natural stevia
dash of lime juice

mix in the mixer and then shave the ice and give a quick blend and it is delicious!  Watermelon slushie!

I broke down and had to read the latest, most talked about book - Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James.  I have to say I did enjoy it, but if you don't know what the book is about, please be sure to check it out before you purchase it.  It is pretty steamy and some parts are downright nasty!  However, it was a good read overall. If you are going to read it, be sure you get all three books.  You will want to continue reading!

Going from one extreme to another, my dear friend Tina Klinesmith has written a wonderful Christian fiction book.  Journey to Almighty!  The beauty of this one is that it is FREE for kindle this weekend!  Hop on over and pick up your copy. And don't worry if you miss the free version, the price is only $2.99!  Totally worth it!  Even if you don't have a kindle, download the kindle reading app for your computer, tablet or phone, you can still read it!!  Win-win!

So that should be plenty of things to keep you from feeling so bad!  If you give some of them a try, be sure to let me know what you think!  If you love my friend Tina's book, be sure to leave her a review on amazon.com!  Thanks!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!

Bibbety Bobbity Boo!

Madelyn was here yesterday.  As most 2 year old girls, she is fascinated with princesses, especially Cinderella. She and Grumpy have been playing magic wands outside (with sticks) and she asked me if we could make her magic wand sparkly.  I don't have a crafty bone in my body and my first instinct was - uhmm... how am I gonna get out of this one?  Oh yeah, let's go shopping!

Shopping for magic wands is a bit of a chore!  We ended up at Wal-Mart ( I needed copy paper and staples), thought it was a good place to start.  Found the PERFECT one, so I thought.....  Cinderella on it, sparkly and even had a bow on it, what more could you want, right?  Well, it was blue and for those of you that know Madelyn, you know her favorite color is pink and purple.  So we ended up with the purple Ariel wand....  then Madelyn told me that Grumpy would need a wand.  She didn't think he wanted a "GIRL" wand, so we continued our search.  I found a I SPY wonder tube and thought it might work, but it was green.... (read:  not pink or purple).  They did have a purple one and she thought that one would be ok...  so we set off to get the other items we needed.

Little did I know that we needed berries ( of all kinds) and watermelon.

Nona always obliges Miss Madelyn's healthier side.....

As we were shopping, I became an ugly frog, a pretty frog and a beautiful princess.  Every time she would hold the wand over her head and shout (yes, shout) Bibbety, Bobbity, Boo.....

On the way home, she decided that Grumpy would really like the Ariel wand the best and she could have the pretty sparkly one....(hmmm, I thought that was the Ariel wand, but I was wrong). "Grumpy does want a
"GIRL" wand!

We got home and enjoyed our watermelon and berries and our magic wands.  Using them is really tiring for ol' Nona, I had to take a short nap when Mads went home and she fell asleep on her way home!

It was a good day!

Bikes and Wine...oh my!

This weekend, we met up with friends and headed off for a fun weekend of bikes and wine.  Except we were in the Jeep and I don't like wine....  BUT, we had a BLAST!!!

WE met up in Cole Camp for the first stop!  There isn't much to do in Cole Camp, but we managed to have a quick breakfast while we waited on everyone to get there and wondered around the town.  After everyone got there, we headed off to the first winery stop!

David found the perfect accessory for the day....

Now, I don't really like wine.  Never have, I have tried it several times, but I was going to be with fun people, have a good time and I might try a little wine.  I tried several wines, I found out - I still don't like wine!

One of the girls with us told me that she enjoyed watching me taste the wine because I made such faces if I didn't like it.  Too bad we didn't get a photo of that!  (Thank goodness.....)

Helen is such a beautiful, sweet person!  I so enjoyed spending time with her!

We went to several wineries on Saturday.  I think 5 in all.    When you tour the wineries in Missouri, you can get a passport and get stamps from each winery and you get fun gifts and meals!  So, we all got our passports stamped and it was fun!

My favorite winery of them all was Casa de Loco!  It was a pretty place and had these balconies that looked out over the water, quite beautiful.  They also served brick oven pizzas, we didn't have one, but they looked delicious.  We will definitely go back another time!

Out on the balcony....

The Lovely Lisa....

Danny and Linda....

The girls... (except for Linda, boo....)

 The guys (except Danny....)

Danny and Linda slept in and missed breakfast!

We had a blast and I would love to do it again.  I think the bikers would be glad for some warmer weather next time!

On Sunday after breakfast, the Joplin group headed south and the KC group headed north.  KC group was going to more wineries, we decided we had had enough wine and headed to the outlet stores and stopped by Bass Pro for the guys on the way home too!

It's about time!!

Oh My Goodness, It has almost been a whole month since I did my last blog post!  So many things have been going on and quite frankly, I just haven't had time to even think about it.

We got Brian's mom home from the nursing home (she had fallen and broken her hip and was rehabbing at the nursing home), and we thought things were going pretty good.  Then on Easter Sunday, she fell again and broke her other hip.  So, we have been traveling a LOT back and forth to Grove to help out, stay the night with her and we also helped get them moved to a smaller house.  So, it has been a very stressful time.

Even though Brian's mom was in the hospital on Easter, we still got together with the kids for dinner.  We had a good time and Madelyn really enjoyed hunting for her Easter Eggs!

Everyone had a good time and we enjoyed a delicious dinner!

We loved being able to eat outside for the first time this year!  Not sure how I managed to get photos of everyone but Nick and Lauren, but trust me they were there!!

Mads had a play date and Miss Olivia and Julie came over to hang out with us!  They had a blast!  Madelyn just wanted to hug Olivia and touch her, I'm not convinced that Olivia wanted it to happen.....

My workouts have been a bit sporadic with all that is going on, but I'm hanging in there.  I am LOVING the Les Mills PUMP workouts.  A LOT!  We started a new challenge this week and I have stuck to the program this week and my muscles are feeling it!  I love that too!  I am following the meal plan from The Eat Clean Diet -  Vegetarian.  I've had some yummy food, but I did slip up a bit yesterday and had some jalapeno poppers and sweet potato tots!  So, I have a little more work to do!

I have been so stressed that I am thankful that I have my workouts to keep it at bay somewhat!

Things are starting to settle down a little bit, so I am hopeful that it will stay that way!  I hope that I can get back to the blog on a more consistent basis!